Northwest man charged in alleged 'fight' with sharks in Puget Sound: police
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An Oregon man is facing charges for allegedly illegally catching and “wrestling” bluntnose sixgill and broadnose sevengill sharks in Puget Sound.
The Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife recently shared body camera footage of an officer confronting Connor Seifert, 27, in June in Pierce County, Washington.
“You know your shark rules,” the officer can be heard on video telling Seifert. “You can't completely or partially remove the sixgill from the water.
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A still video shared by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife shows the suspect allegedly posing as a shark caught by the tail. (WDFW)
“When you wrestle with a sixgill on the beach like that, you jump on its back and put its necks in the air,” continued the policeman. “You know as well as anyone else that the Puget Sound is a nursery for these sharks. There was a direct correlation between catching these sharks at this stage of their lives and the death of the pups inside the mother.”
He added, “Once they're out fighting on the beach, all their babies die. And then, sooner than you know, there won't be sixgills and sevengills coming back to Puget Sound.”
This happened months after Seifert's actions and postings on the Internet, when the police finally put a surveillance on him to catch him in illegal activities.
The suspect is said to have posted on social media while sitting on the back of a shark with his mouth open. (WDFW)
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He was charged in Pierce County with nine counts of second-degree illegal fishing and one count of making a false or misleading statement to a public servant. The first is a misdemeanor and the second is a grave injustice.
Violators face a fine of up to $1,000 and 90 days in jail if convicted and misdemeanors carry a fine of up to $5,000 and a year in jail.
Broadnose sevengill shark. (Anadolu via Getty Images, File)
“Fishing for sixgill and sevengill sharks is illegal, and unfortunately, officials are seeing an increasing number of online reports of these sharks being targeted and being illegally or partially removed from the water,” the department said in a post about Seifert's charges.
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Sifert says he didn't mean for the sharks and caught them by mistake, but the videos he posted on social media are said to show him opening the shark's mouth while sitting on his back and holding it by the tail on the beach while trying to escape and drew another picture.
The department said it received 14 complaints about Seifert, mostly related to his alleged shark targeting.
A Washington State ferry crosses Puget Sound toward Seattle. (Corbis via Getty Images)
“The Puget Sound is like a nursery for sixgill and sevengill sharks before they go out to sea, the department said.
The department added, “This is one of the important reasons why it is illegal to target sharks in the area, as fishermen who catch these animals are looking at them at a very bad time in the animals' lives.”
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Both shark species are listed as “Species in Greatest Conservation Need” in Washington State.
Bluntnose sixgills are classified as “near threatened” and broadnose sevengills are “vulnerable,” according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.
